


Leave a Light On

by almostjulie



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, First Time, Fluff, Light Angst, Rey is a Skywalker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 00:37:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10686174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/almostjulie/pseuds/almostjulie
Summary: Finn tries to find his place in the Resistance, and with Rey. He thinks she has it all figured out, but maybe there are still some things they need to figure out together.





	Leave a Light On

Finn wasn’t used to having _things_. When he got out of medbey and officially decided to join the Resistance, he was issued two standard uniforms and a dress uniform. The only other things he had were the clothes on his back when he was brought back to the base, which weren’t exactly in the best shape. Dr. Kalonia had pointed him to a crate of used clothing in a medbay storage room, and told him to take whatever he needed. Finn took a few essentials to round out his wardrobe and tried not to think too hard about who they had belonged to before.

Everyone else’s rooms were full of things that made them _them_. When Finn first moved in, his room was barren. He left Poe’s jacket out -- draped over the back of his chair, or tossed on his bed, to make his place looked more lived in. Over time, his room started filling up with more personal things: a sparkly polished rock from Connix’s home system; a model R2 unit one of the maintenance worker’s made out of scrap metal; more and more of Poe’s clothes were re-homed to Finn’s closet -- Poe having insisted he had too many, anyway.

When Rey came back from one of her missions with little potted plant for him, Finn _beamed_.

***

“Oh!” Rey had exclaimed, “I nearly forgot.” They were sitting across from each other on his cot, catching up. She reached around behind her back and presented Finn with a simple grey pot with something green growing in it. “The mission was a bust, but one of the moons we visited was just teeming with plant life. So I brought you this.” 

It was a small, fragile looking thing with pale, wispy leaves and and bright, corkscrewing tendrils that reached out in all directions. 

“And look,” she said. Rey reached out with her pinky toward one of the tendrils: it reached back, curling around he finger. She grinned at Finn and gestured for him to try. He tentatively put his hand out and the plant slowly grabbed on to him. It was gentle and a little fuzzy, surprisingly comforting.

“I figured it would look nice in your room,” Rey explained.

Finn put the plant on his desk, and felt just a little bit more like he belonged.

***

Once, Luke Skywalker suggested that Finn spar with Rey. 

Finn tried to protest: he wasn’t a Jedi, but Luke insisted. Rey needed to practice with _someone_ , and besides, Luke had heard that Finn had handled a lightsaber pretty well against Kylo Ren.

“The damage to my back suggests otherwise.” 

Luke just handed him a training staff and clapped him on the shoulder. “Come on,” Luke said, “I already spoke with Statura, no Pathfinder exercises for you today, you’re with us.” Finn figured you don’t say no to a legend. So he trained with Rey, for a punishing afternoon. There was fire in her eyes. Focus. Purpose. Finn couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. 

When they were done, and both exhausted and overheated, Rey and Finn headed out from the training room to try to find somewhere to cool off. They stepped outside, hoping for some fresh air, but it was thick and muggy.

“Ugh,” Rey said, and moved to go back inside. But Finn grabbed her hand. “Come on, I know a place.” He took her to a hilltop, overlooking the landing field, where there was a little breeze. It wasn’t much, but it cooled them a bit. 

“You were good today,” said Finn. 

“So were you,” Rey replied. “It’s nice to have someone to train with other than Luke.”

Finn snorted. 

“What?”

“I still can’t believe you call him that.”

She scrunched up her nose at him. “I’m not going to call him _dad_ , I didn’t grow up with him. We both thought that would be weird.” 

“Anyway,” said Rey. “We should train together more often.” 

“I don’t know,” Finn said. “You’re so...” he struggled to find the right words. “Strong. And sure of yourself. I’m still trying to figure everything out.” He had bounced around a bit in the Resistance -- training new recruits, a rotation in Command, now the Pathfinders. He wanted to try everything, wanted to go where he was most needed. He just wasn’t sure where that was. 

“I’m still trying to figure everything out, too.” Rey slumped against him, head on his shoulder. “You’re lucky,” she said. 

“Why’s that?”

“Do you know how much baggage there is being a Skywalker? And I didn’t even _know_ I was one until recently. Can you imagine what it must be like for Luke and Leia, living with it all these years?” 

“At least you know who you are,” Finn said quietly.

She sat up at that. “Oh, Finn, I didn’t mean--” 

He reached out for her hand, curled his fingers around hers, comforting, like the plant she gave him. “No, it’s okay, I know it’s not what you meant.” 

“When this is all over...” she trailed off. They’d discussed this before -- looking for his home planet, his family. It was a nice thought -- good for fantasizing about when Rey was away and Poe was off flying and he was left alone with nothing but his thoughts. 

“I know we’ve talked about trying to find where I’m from, but I’ve been thinking, and I don’t know if I need that.” Rey frowned a little. Finn continued, “Maybe it might be better to look forward, to the future. You know, make a new family.”

Rey squeezed his hand. 

Sweat made stray wisps of hair stick to the sides of Rey’s face. Without thinking, Finn reached out and brushed some of them away. He realized how close they were. Rey was still holding his hand. 

So Finn leaned in and kissed her. Rey pulled back slightly for a fraction of a second and Finn’s stomach dropped. He pulled back too, but Rey chased after him, kissing him back. 

They stayed on the hilltop, wrapped around each other, until the sun set, and Rey’s stomach growled. 

***

Finn was out on the obstacle course with his Pathfinder squad when he saw the _Millennium Falcon_ fly low overhead. Rey, back again. He put his head down and finished the course, and as soon as he was dismissed, rushed back to the landing field, and then, because they were long gone, of course, to Command. 

“Hey, Connix, any chance Rey’s been through here?” 

She was frowning, which was never a good sign. “Nothing life-threatening, I don’t think, but they took her straight to medbay.” Finn was racing there before Connix even finished. 

He nearly knocked Dr. Kalonia over. “Where’s Rey?”

“Refused treatment and grabbed a pile of bacta patches. She’s as stubborn as you were, but at least you couldn’t get away from me.” 

Finn finally found her in her quarters, sitting on the floor with her left sleeve torn off and bacta patches strewn all around her. There was a burn down most of her arm, skin blistering. “Rey,” Finn said, and she looked up. He could see a deep cut on her jaw. 

“I know,” she said, “I should be in medbay. Could you help me with these?”

Finn sat down in front of her and picked up a bacta patch. Rey held out her arm and hissed a little when he applied it. “Do you want to tell me what happened?” he asked, as he reached for the next. 

“We finally caught up with the Knights of Ren.” 

“Do they look worse than you do?”

“A few of them,” she said, and jerked back a little when he grazed a raw blister.

“Sorry.” Finn winced in sympathy. 

“Not Kylo, though.” Rey said quietly, but with an undercurrent of anger. “He got away.” 

Finn wasn’t sure what to say. 

“People think: Luke comes back, everything will be okay,” said Rey. “I thought it, too. But it’s not that simple.”

Finn hummed in agreement. There wasn’t much more to say. 

He cleaned her up and put her to bed, then went out to find Poe. Finn asked him to cover for him at the all-hands meeting later that day, and then curled up behind Rey until duty called them both away. 

***

They were leaving again, Rey and Luke. To Finn, it always felt like they were leaving. So far, at least, they had always come back. 

They were going in the morning. Rey came to his room after her briefing, silently walked over to him and straddled his lap. He circled her waist with his hands, locked is fingers together at the small of her back and pulled her closer. She was already working his shirt out from where it was tucked into his trousers. They separated briefly to tug the shirt over his head, and she swooped back in with a hungry kiss and a hint of teeth.

They moved together, entwined, making it count until the next time they could be together -- until the next time one of them had to leave. 

After, Finn ran his fingertips over her forearm -- traced out her name in Aurebesh. Her skin had mostly healed since her last run-in with Ren, just a few faint scars. “So I was thinking,” said Rey, “about looking forward, like you said that time. And I was wondering, do you want to be a Skywalker?” 

Finn’s heart swelled at the offer, and what it meant, for them, for their future. “Not in a million years,” he laughed, thinking about what it particularly meant to be a _Skywalker_. “But I do want to be with you.” 

“Good enough for me,” said Rey, and held on until morning.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is always appreciated!
> 
> You can find me on [tumblr](https://starshipsandhighseas.tumblr.com/) if that's your thing.


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